AT&T experiencing nationwide cellular outage; here’s what 911 centers are saying
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reported that Thursday morning’s AT&T outages were not impacting their operations.
The outage began around 4 a.m. ET, as News Center 7 previously reported. Complaints about the outage grew through the morning, reaching more than 60,000 on an online site that tracks wireless service outages.
“We know that there have been some local outages with some carriers, but we are not aware of any impacts on callers getting through to the Regional Dispatch Center or 911,” said Montgomery County Chief Deputy Matt Haines. “The R.D.C. and our I.T. staff are actively monitoring the situation and will work with vendors if needed.”
Haines said if someone attempts to call 911 and cannot, they can try to text 911 because in some cases texting may work when calls fail, and some newer iPhones may have satellite connectivity in emergencies.
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You can also find a landline or a cell phone from another carrier. Even if the phone from another carrier doesn’t have an active plan, it may work with 911, Haines said.
If you are unable to find a phone that works, you should go to the closest law enforcement office, fire station, etc.
“These are good tips to remember because service disruptions can occur at any time,” Haines said.
AT&T released a statement on the outages Thursday morning.
“Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning,” the company said. “We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.”
The company did not say what had happened to cause the problem, nor when it expected the issue to be resolved.
